You Would Fall For This Scam. Here's Why.

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]This domestic scam, for example, is one that, if you know, we're being honest, a lot of us would probably fall for. It's extremely difficult to detect and and frankly, most people would never see it coming. Watch.

[00:00:12]>> Look, comes right off.

[00:00:14]>> Erica Pendra of Atlanta noticed something was off in her local parking garage.

[00:00:19]>> It was like extra shiny. Um, like it had been like recently laminated. I could see like it wasn't really a part of like the fancy signs they have out there. And then I was able to just peel it right off.

[00:00:31]>> Scammers putting fake QR codes over the real ones, hoping to trick parking garage customers into transferring them money.

[00:00:39]>> They're moving fast. You'll have to be careful. Be alert. Be aware.

[00:00:43]>> And the FBI says Erica is not alone.

[00:00:46]>> Where are we seeing these QR scams happening?

[00:00:49]>> Unfortunately, they're relatively widespread. They are happening in parking lots. They're happening in areas where you may anticipate this is a legitimate QR code and I'll scan it, but somebody has altered it.

[00:01:02]>> Fake QR codes aren't just misdirecting your payment in garages like this one.

[00:01:07]The FBI telling us thieves often use QR codes to take your money and steal other important personal information.

[00:01:15]>> What happens when you scan a QR code that isn't the one you're supposed to be scanning? It can give the criminal access to your phone, which then allows them access to any apps that you normally use. It can also drop some sort of computer intrusion type of software that can alter your phone and steal credentials and that sort of thing.

[00:01:37]>> So, the QR code scam is most effective when it's done in real life, just like this. Nobody thinks twice when they scan the QR code at the local parking lot because they want to get out of there as quickly as possible. And on top of that, it's hard to imagine that anybody would actually go through the trouble of messing with the payment terminal of a parking lot. But the QR codes are slightly less effective when they're used for text message scams where they're becoming more prevalent. Take a look at these two letters which were just sent to my producer over the last week uh via text message. As you can see uh there, other than location, they're very similar. They threatened some kind of enforcement action if you don't pay the fine for toll evasion as well as speeding and some unexplained parking violations. So, they really covered their bases with this scam. Just accuse you of committing every imaginable parking infraction in the hopes that you'll say to yourself, "Well, I you I must have done at least one of those."

[00:02:29]But in order to clear this violation, you're directed to a QR code in the bottom right of the letter. And when you follow that QR code, you're taken to a website with a very strange name.

[00:02:39]Something about puffer jackets, which is obviously a red flag. But if you don't notice the URL, the first thing you'll be asked to do is confirm that you're a human. And it looks like a normal verification step, which you'll see on any number of websites. But in reality, it's a way to download a virus to your computer. Watch.

[00:02:56]>> Okay, guys. I am really alarmed by this new scam going around. And I am someone who covers consumer news and scams for a living. So, I could really see a lot of people falling for this one. So, you know those capture boxes you have to click I'm not a robot on? Well, scammers have found a way to create fake versions of this that look real, but instead of clicking a button, what they actually want you to do is press a series of keys. So, here's a real world example of what this looks like that someone shared on Reddit recently. And here's the thing. When you are running this sequence, what you are actually doing is running a command that will download malware onto your device. That malware can steal your passwords, login, potentially even banking information.

[00:03:38]So, here's what you should know. A real capture message will never ask you to run a sequence of keys. So, if you see that immediate red flag, close out of the tab immediately.

[00:03:48]>> Now, after looking this up, um, here's how it works with some more detail.

[00:03:52]Well, if you press the button to verify that you're human, the website copies some malicious code to your computer.

[00:03:57]And then the website will ask you to press a few keys to copy and paste that code and execute it. And when it says press the Windows key and the R key, it's really telling you to open up a command window within your operating system. Again, it's an effective scam because everybody's familiar with websites that tell you to verify that you're human. So, they hope you won't notice what they're doing as you try to verify your identity and pay your toll or your parking ticket or whatever. Now, as simplistic these scams might seem, they're extremely effective. Millions of Americans are losing uh a ton of money because of them. And while our government doesn't seem interested in doing anything really about it, they should be. You could judge the merits of a government based on how well it protects its citizens from foreign threats. That's one of the few fundamental core functions of any government. And by that metric, despite fielding the single best military in the world, and despite our supposedly advanced intelligence agencies, America is failing in this regard. So, here's the growth in scams over the last 5 years using the FBI's 2024 report. So, it's even worse now. This is 2 years ago. But this is from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, which says there were 859,000 scam complaints in 2024, including 256,000 complaints with actual loss totaling more than $16 billion.

[00:05:16]The average loss was $19,000.

[00:05:19]Now, for comparison, as you can see, losses were around 6 billion in 2021, uh 13 billion in 2023.

[00:05:27]So, the losses are stacking up. this epidemic is growing exponentially.

[00:05:33]And these are just the the the people who have logged official complaints. It doesn't count the people who get scammed and don't realize it or the people who get scammed and never bothered to report it, which probably happens a lot. If the losses are relatively low, then a lot of people probably think well there's no point in reporting it because nothing's going to be done about it. So, you know, the problem is bad and uh it's getting worse and even now it's worse than it looks and it looks pretty bad.

[00:06:02]And in particular, older people are getting hit the hardest as uh as you might expect. As you can see on the graphic there, people over the age of 60 are reporting more scams than any any other age group and they're losing more money as well. And what's interesting about this chart is that the number of reported scams drops by quite a bit around 30,000 between the ages of 50 and 59. And then after that age group, the number jumps up again. And you can come up with your own theory as to why that might be the case. Uh most likely it's because people in their 50s are old enough to be wise and savvy about these things, but not so old that they're totally out of touch with modern technology and easily confused. But whatever the case, as for the specific scams that people are getting hit with, um, here's the data on that point. Gold corer scams are is an interesting one that happened a few hundred times and caused hundreds of millions in damages.

[00:06:53]Apparently, the way this works is that scammers convince people to hand over their gold to them at the front door of their homes. The scammers promise to safeguard the gold or something along those lines and they just walk away with it, I guess. toll scams like the one I almost fell for um accounted for 60,000 complaints but only 120 thou 9,000 in total losses which is a high number of complaints more than any other category on the page but it's also the lowest amount of total losses. So the um toll scams are stealing you know a few bucks from people on average. No one's getting scared into paying a $500 toll or anything like that. But the the important point is they're giving away their credit card information, which even if they're not taking a lot from you upfront, can obviously create a lot of problems down the line. Watch.

[00:07:45]>> Um, they make you feel like you better do this or there's severe consequences for not paying this toll. Sue Walters had just returned from a spring break road trip when she got a text claiming to be from Easy Pass demanding $6.68 for an unpaid toll. The message threatened severe penalties, including suspension of her registration if she didn't pay within hours. Having just crossed the Ohio River, she thought it could be legit, even though she's usually skeptical. The timing, the small amount, and the urgency tricked her into giving up her credit card information.

[00:08:21]But when the site asked for a second card and she spotted the typo in the URL, she knew something was wrong.

[00:08:27]>> What's really frustrating is that it's hard to catch them. You know, I would love to see them heavily prosecuted when you steal people's personal information, but it's really hard to do that. So, they're out.

[00:08:42]So, unfortunately, the person that scammed me is still out there, right?

[00:08:48]So, the scammer is still out there, but we could do something about it as we'll discuss momentarily. We don't have to just um sit back helplessly while, you know, scamming while these scammers run rough shod over the population, especially older people, and steal billions of dollars. And like I said, it's only going to get worse. You don't do anything about it, it's only going to get worse. A lot worse.

[00:09:12]But for now, let's keep going down the list of scams. Uh, call center scams are by far the most profitable, raking in nearly two billion in losses in a single year with 53,000 complaints. Typically, this involves tech support scams where they call you and tell you that your computer has been hacked and you need to pay them to fix it. Category also includes fake calls from a brokerage or cryptocurrency website which convince people to hand over their account credentials or transfer money. Also included here are so-called pig butchering scams. Now, usually these scams follow a uh straightforward routine. So, it starts with a wrong number text. And if you've noticed like a weird uptick recently in people texting you because they supposedly think you're somebody else, you know, a wrong number, uh, and I've noticed that, it's probably one of these scams and they're all over the place now. So, the way it works is that the scammer hopes that you'll text back to tell them that they have the wrong number, which is a normal thing to do. Um, and but then they strike up a conversation and they befriend you, often trying to portray themselves as somebody attractive and wealthy, and then they're hoping you'll think that, well, this is an interesting coincidence. You know, it's uh, this person texts me wrong number, but they are so nice and friendly and look, we're having a little now we're becoming pen pals. Isn't that Isn't that cute?

[00:10:35]Well, eventually they try to rope you into whatever scam they're running.

[00:10:39]Often it'll be something like a cryptocurrency website which they control. Might look like a real website, but it's fake. And they'll tell you to invest some money on the website, and then they'll rig the numbers so that your investment looks like it's increasing. Again, it's all fake. They control the website. The scam is designed to extract more and more money from people since they think they're getting great returns. And then when they try to withdraw the money, they realize that they've been defrauded.

[00:11:04]Now, the reason they call this a pig butchering scam, by the way, is that the scammer tries to fatten you up, essentially grooming you um as they pretend to be your friend and they all this kind of stuff and they make you think that they're very wealthy and very financially savvy, but really they're prep preparing preparing you for the slaughter financially. Basically, there are some common variations on this scam. Here's one of them. Watch.

[00:11:29]>> And the FBI says tens of billions of dollars are lost every year to these types of scams. And for this couple had started going online and looking at videos from social media influencers.

[00:11:38]They wanted to share their story as a warning to others.

[00:11:42]>> In the end, it was a really bad choice, but the opportunity looked great at the moment.

[00:11:46]>> Daniel Hovind's family is trying to bounce back after falling prey to an online scam that drained their life savings. He says it started last May when his wife answered an ad on Facebook to earn some money on the side.

[00:11:57]>> I was like, "That looks like a scam. You shouldn't get involved with it." The job looking at videos online then liking and sharing them to help social media influencers monetize their accounts.

[00:12:06]>> It would allow them to monetize faster.

[00:12:08]Thus, we would be getting a cut of their monetization.

[00:12:10]>> He says his wife was getting paid through a digital account. Then he started doing it and they were making more and more money.

[00:12:19]>> I consistently got paid and it's not normal for a scam to like pay you.

[00:12:24]>> Hovind then encouraged other family and friends to jump on board. He says they would have to reinvest money to reach new earning levels, sort of like multi-level marketing. Hovind says it lasted for about 6 months. Then suddenly the company's website was gone and through a chat room they were told they were fired. Then they realized their money was also gone. Nearly $40,000 of the Hovland's money around half a million for the entire group.

[00:12:48]>> It was traumatic. You know, it's definitely it's one of the toughest times I think that we've ever had to go go through. It's a scam known as pig butchering where >> it's like they're fattening you up to basically get, you know, first slaughter later.

[00:13:03]>> So, uh, when you compare to other losses, this, you know, $40,000 actually got off kind of easy. Uh, I not it's all relative. That was their life savings.

[00:13:12]But in terms of sheer numbers, people uh lose a lot more than that. This woman gave away a million dollars for no apparent reason. Watch.

[00:13:21]>> Almost a million dollars gone. I know.

[00:13:24]And then I had to tell my kids because they had no idea I had that kind of money.

[00:13:29]>> All that money was socked away in investments. And now Erica Damasque is in financial ruin. In fact, she was forced to sell her Lumbard home and everything in it.

[00:13:38]>> This is my garage sale. It's really hard because a lot of the stuff there's glasses here that belong to my husband and have to sell them.

[00:13:47]>> Her husband passed away decades ago and recently Damas met a man online. He said he loved me.

[00:13:53]>> But the FBI says that tactic is just part of the fattening up or pig butchering.

[00:13:58]>> Fraudsters are going to fatten up the victims by putting more enticing the victims to put more money into an investment and then they're going to slaughter them by walking away and stealing their money.

[00:14:10]>> He's working on a oil rig and something broke down. Can I send him $20,000?

[00:14:17]And I said, whoa. I said, you know what?

[00:14:20]I need to pray about this. The second time I sent 35,000.

[00:14:25]>> Over time, that money sent reached nearly $1 million. Damas says the scammer told her she would get double her money back in his investments.

[00:14:34]Instead, she now owes money back to her bank, cash which she took from her home equity loan. Plus, she must pay taxes on her investment withdrawals. She was sending 100,000, 300,000, 50,000 at a time and it was never brought up and stopped and checked.

[00:14:51]>> She and her son say the money was sent via cashier checks or wire transfers through Fifth Third Bank. They say when they filed reports with the FBI and the Secret Service, agents told them that bankers should have spotted unusual patterns.

[00:15:05]>> They never questioned why are you closing this whole account? But in this letter to Damascus, Fifth Third said it asked a series of questions that the customer must answer before a wire transfer is sent and that her answers provided did not raise concern for potential fraud.

[00:15:25]So, she doesn't have any kind of realization that she made a mistake.

[00:15:27]Instead, her first reaction is to go on television and blame the bank for quote never questioning why I closed this whole account. So apparently it's the bank's responsibility to inform you that despite you what you may believe it's a terrible idea to wire a million dollars to somebody you've never met. It's the bank's job to tell you what to do with your money. I guess as unsympathetic as this woman might be and in some of these stories people are unsympathetic because they do things that are really really stupid. Um but you know she's got nothing on this guy with the IQ and morals of a house plant from the San Francisco Bay area. Watch. So, I had this all ready to go. All ready to go.

[00:16:05]>> Adon look was packed and ready to fly off to a new life.

[00:16:09]>> Pack clothes, pants.

[00:16:10]>> He'd be joining the young woman he met on Facebook. Together, they'd build their dream home in Hawaii.

[00:16:16]>> Even swimming trunks, walk on the beach.

[00:16:19]Yeah.

[00:16:19]>> Her name was Anissa. He called her Annie. They'd been chatting on WhatsApp since last May.

[00:16:25]>> Brand new pants, brand new. Had them tailored. Annie said she was from Japan working in microchip sales. Her family had made millions. He told her he was alone, his wife in a nursing home.

[00:16:39]>> Told her that, you know, there's no one here to cook for me. It's just me. You know, she assured me, well, you know, I'll be doing the cooking for you.

[00:16:48]>> She promised to visit, even sent flight information, yet she never came.

[00:16:52]>> I was head over heels, pretty much out of control, ready to do anything. And then she says she was into um crypto.

[00:17:00]>> Annie told him she'd made millions investing in crypto. He could too.

[00:17:04]They'd make enough to build a life in Hawaii.

[00:17:07]>> And I was ready to fly. I was ready to go. I was going to start a new life with this person.

[00:17:12]>> I didn't know what had happened to my dad. It was kind of this like he he flipped a switch into someone I hadn't seen before.

[00:17:20]>> Adon's son Jonathan of Hayward saw signs of trouble. found some pictures of of a woman, Asian woman.

[00:17:29]>> He saw the text messages about love and investing. He confronted his dad.

[00:17:34]>> Well, you're a married man. Uh what is this? Uh I don't know, 20some year old woman.

[00:17:39]>> I wasn't paying no attention to cuz I was too immersed in my bubble.

[00:17:45]>> Then Jonathan discovered this $300,000 wire transfer to a fake company and a deposit into an unknown account.

[00:17:53]immediately I shifted to red flags everywhere.

[00:17:55]>> Later he discovered his dad also wired thousands of dollars directly to banks in Malaysia and Vietnam. First $5,000, then $100,000, then another hundred grand.

[00:18:07]>> He told me he was investing and that um not to worry.

[00:18:11]>> But Jonathan was worried. He warned his dad these crypto websites he was using appeared fake. So the $6 million in his account was not really there. Annie herself probably didn't exist. He texted, "Dad, your friends and I need to talk about the romance scam you are a victim of." Adon replied, "No, I'm good, Jonathan. My choice, my life. Ready to run away from everyone."

[00:18:36]>> So, he thinks he's turned his uh $500,000 investment into $6 million. And he only realizes something's wrong when he tries to withdraw the money, but he's told he needs to spend $25,000 more to unlock his account. and he doesn't have $25,000 anymore because he's given everything he has to this non-existent woman while he was cheating on his terminally ill wife. Uh his defense when he was confronted by his family was, "Let me live my last few years." Okay.

[00:19:01]And it's hard not to conclude based on that statement that he realized at some level that he was being ripped off, but he didn't care. Doesn't think he's going to be alive for much longer. And he's probably right. So, in his mind, the value of the money is extremely low.

[00:19:13]He's obviously not loyal to his family, so he's not concerned with their inheritance or anything like that. So, he's happy to waste the money on the slim chance that his phantom relationship is actually real. Um, that's the pig butchering scam, basically. And although that guy is a scumbag and an idiot, um, a lot of people get sucked into it who are neither of those things, who are just decent, normal, and even relatively intelligent people. A lot of small business owners are profitable. They're growing. They're doing everything right.

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[00:20:50]Again, that's cardiff.co/walsh. Real growth, fastf funding Cardiff, borrow better. And these kind of scams are usually run out of big call centers, which we'll come back to the call centers in a moment. There's also the emergency scam where people are pressured into paying money to save their relatives from some kind of disaster. This is a a more rare form of a scam, but it costs victims millions of dollars every year. If you're tempted to think that you'd never fall for something like that, well, consider the fact that these scams are now using AI to mimic the voice and sometimes even the appearance of people who are close to the victim.

[00:21:32]So, you might get a call from somebody who sounds a lot like a family member.

[00:21:36]Um, and in isolation, you know, when you hear a news report about these kinds of scams, it's easy to underestimate them. The fact is that most people when they think that their family member is in trouble, they're going to panic. And when you panic, you tend to make quick and often pretty bad decisions. And as AI gets more and more sophisticated, these scams are going to get more and more difficult to detect, we could we could very well reach a point where you basically tr can't trust any call you receive from anyone, including people, you know, because of uh because of the way the the technology is getting more sophisticated now. For now, these AI scams are one of the reasons you should never answer the phone when you don't recognize the number. If you start talking to an AI bot, it can capture a voice sample in just a few seconds. So even if you just say, "Hey, who is this?" That might be enough. And the scammers can make the AI say anything they want in your voice. It sounds very unlikely because right now it is statistic statistically unlikely, but according to to the uh this FBI data, it happened to at least 357 people in 2024.

[00:22:48]That was 2 years ago. Think about how much more sophisticated the technology is even today.

[00:22:53]So, as the technology improves, it'll happen more often.

[00:22:57]And the upshot here is that you should never answer the phone for numbers you don't recognize. You should never text anybody back if you don't recognize the number. You get a wrong number text, just ignore it. Delete the text. And you should never open any emails from email addresses you don't recognize. Now, that may seem paranoid, but at this point, it's just a basic step to protect yourself.